When i talked to Andy Mac last fall, as head coach at Sewanee he was happy. Wonder if $$ tighten up at that level if he would be interested in a dc role at a bigger program. He was in buffale and really wanted to come south.
He really called clown car coaching brought to gt by Collins.
And both of you called J Thomas as a safety while i wanted him to try olb. Doing well at the Cowboys .
Andy had an dye for talent and could recruit.
KQ- Andy is a great guy. We still talk and text several times a year. He seems happy running his own ship up there and having people just playing for the love of the game and his staff coaching for the love of the game. It is not bad living up there either.
There was a really cool play against Louisville where Malik caught a jet touch pass and it looked like he had the option to throw it back to King on a screen. Malik ended up keeping it, but I was wondering if we will see the playbook continue to open up with more unique plays like that. Though it was a clever design.
KQ- Yeah that is a throwback option play, that is one way to do it, or you can throw behind the LOS to a back motion out of the backfield behind the QB and he can have that option or you can do quite a few other things. Buster seems to have a few wrinkles each week as part of the package for the game and he saw something probably with over pursuit on the jet-motion that could've opened that up. Both Eric Singleton Jr. and Avery Boyd threw passes on trick plays last year.
I used to be a full time sports fan and watched almost all sports. Now, with the players having their own platform to say what they want about anything with pretty much no repercussions or being able to break the law and still be able to participate in ways a normal person would be under the jail has pretty much tuned me out. Seeing the UGA players still play and the WR Rice for KC play are a few examples of law breakers that should be really not even with the team until resolved. What’s your take on situations like that?
KQ- So the NFL is different from college. The NFL has unions and policies that for lack of a better word police what clubs can and cannot do and that is collectively bargained with the players' association so there is a minimum threshold that has to be cleared to suspend someone or whatever else. Andy Reid certain hasn't been known for running the tightest ship in terms of off-the-field stuff both with his players and unfortunately with his family as well where there has been quite a bit of tragedy.
On the UGA thing, they gave up the idea of appeasing people with suspensions long ago. It has always been a little wild over there and there are other programs with issues which aren't on our radar because they are not GT's most hated rival, but I covered all sorts of depressing shit there like rape trials with players or the guy who got kicked off the team for stealing from students or DUIs/car shit going back a long ass time since I've been doing this for over 15 years now in the GT side. It ain't changing. Alabama had their own insanity last year with a DB caught with dealer level drugs and speeding away from the cops in a car chase. There are going to be dumbass people in the 17-24 age bracket and the lower the barrier to entry to the school or the greater focus on winning at all costs, the more likely you will end up with some serious legal shit down the line.
I think caring about what an athlete says is dumb. I don't care what their opinions are for the most part unless it is something truly awful like a Nazi-loving POS or something of that nature or someone cruel to animals or women or children. Short of that, just tune it out, unfollow them or just ignore it.
What do you hear about the development ofLB- Caleb Dozier? We need LB help but I do t hear anything about how he is doing. Are we going to be in the transfer portal again for LB help? We still lack LBs in the incoming class.
KQ- He is on the scout team, I would be a little surprised if he plays this year since he may have dressed once in the first five games for VMI (I think). That is usually a sign that a guy isn't that close. Austin Dean and probably the walk-on Jack Collins would be ahead of him playing right now. That's not saying he won't develop, but I would be a little surprised to see him get any game reps soon.
Always interested in your assessment of injured players at his point in the season. Which players in the normal two-deep do you expect to be unable to play vs Duke?
KQ- I'm not really sure how to answer that as I am not interested in giving Manny Diaz my injury report on the Jackets a week before the game. There are a couple of guys I expect to miss the Duke game and a few guys I expect back like maybe we will finally see Horace Lockett play. I am unsure on guys that Key has talked about publicly like Trey Cooley and where things are with him. Safety Jayden Davis is another guy I'm curious his status (has had his arm in a sling at the last two home games) and Josh Beetham who got banged up in the last game at Louisville.
Do you think we will be trying to mix things up on the O-line, considering our inability to run block recently?
KQ- Probably. I was told by a reliable source that Ethan Mackenny has been banged up and should be closer to 100% and that would allow them some flexibility there. I've thought Corey Robinson II has looked good when he has played but as Key talked about he was banged up in spring and fall camp and came into the season not 100% so hopefully maybe he is ready there and Harrison Moore continues to develop that would give them some solid options on the left side at both guard and tackle to rotate with Jordan Brown and Joe Fusile who have been struggling. I know Fusile hasn't been 100% either as he had some type of wrap on his shoulder so hopefully he has healed up and looks more like the reliable LG who played all of last year.
I’ve got a conference alignment question my friend wanted to ask. How long do you expect Stanford/Cal to stay in the ACC?
KQ- Until the GOR expires. They aren't leaving for the Pac-12 who are offering 1/4 of what the ACC payout is from TV at best.
Going into the second half of the season who do you see as someone on both sides of the ball who’s moving up the depth chart and expect to see more playing time (someone who’s playing some now and someone who hasn’t seen the field much)?
KQ- Trelain Maddox at RB is clearly someone they want to fill the Dontae Smith type role, but they need to open holes for him to do that. Bailey Stockton is a guy that Buster loves and he basically replaced Christian Leary all-around as both the #2 slot and now as the KR since Leary left. He had already taken the slot job which led to Leary bouncing IMO. On the D side, Tah'j Butler seems like a guy who will be hard to keep off the field and I think Taye Seymore has made a really strong case to stay on the field as well at one of the safety spots. Rodney Shelley will be interesting to watch at the nickel because he is good when he is good but gambles a lot as well, he has played better than the other two guys there Syeed Gibbs and Omar Daniels in coverage.
Dark horse breakout player for second half of the year (a la Dontae)?
KQ- My gut says Trelain Maddox on offense and Tah'j Butler on D.
Any news as to our kicking game getting squared away?
KQ- They don't have a lot of options. There is a reason why Aidan Birr is kicker #1.
Any kickoff time prediction for Notre Dame?
KQ- Well Stevie Wonder just announced a concert at State Farm that night so that will add to the level of shit show that could be if the game is a night game. My assumption is TV will be interested in the game so I have no clue. It could be in any of the slots.
Not sure if this has been covered already, I missed it if so, but wondering what’s up with Lightsey at LB. We all respect Efford’s work ethic and just about everything he does except the fact that he’s a major liability in space. He routinely gets picked on in the passing game, evidently the opposing OC’s eyes light up when they watch our tape. I think we’ve done pretty good against the run but you need LB in base that are adequate at both. And surprisingly I still see Efford out there in nickel. Anyway, I thought we’d see more of Lightsey and maybe others. Curious to hear more about the LB situation and whether we’ll see more players out there soon. And specifically about Lightsey, it feels like I’ve missed something about him.
KQ- I think this might be the 100th time I've answered this since the Ga State game, but Lightsey was injured and not dressed and has been out for a bit with an undisclosed injury. I don't think it is a season-ending injury or anything like that, but he wasn't available the last few games so that is why he hasn't played. The other thing is Lightsey has missed a lot of time now with injuries both in spring ball and fall camp and Jackson Hamilton and Tah'j Butler are both playing pretty well so he has to earn his way back into the rotation if he wants to play more.
The base defense is essentially a nickel look, are you talking about the 3-3-5 or Dime packages when they sub down because normally the middle LB stays on the field on those downs and is usually there to stop the run or blitz or spy. They sometimes drop into coverage. Tah'j Butler would be the guy in that spot and not probably Lightsey if you wanted someone other than Efford.
